Just because Bel-Air is coming to an end doesn’t mean the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air universe won’t continue.
During the NBCUniversal Backlot Summer Experience on Monday, August 4, showrunner Carla Banks-Waddles teased what fans can expect from the fourth and final season, telling Us Weekly and other reporters, “It will feel like an ending but also a beginning. I can say that it’s going to be senior year and Will and Carlton are going into their senior year.”
Banks-Waddles referred to the conclusion as “a four-year journey.”
“It feels like it’s time to graduate. But I think everybody is going to be graduating to their next step, their next act and you’ll see that through each of the characters and each of their stories,” she noted. “So it will feel like an ending but it should also feel like a great beginning for what’s next for everybody.”
While Banks-Waddles and the cast couldn’t answer questions about any potential spinoff plans — they didn’t rule anything out.
“In reading those last few episodes, that is the most care I’ve seen any characters in television have,” Olly Sholotan, who plays Carlton, shared. “It was just really beautiful as a cast for us to read the words that [Carla] wrote and how much care she took of every character’s final moments on the show.”
President of Scripted Content at NBC Universal Entertainment Lisa Katz gave insight from the production side of things, adding, “Right now, we are focused on doing this very intentional last season and making sure that it is very satisfying for the audience. But, obviously looking at all of these characters, they are all so dimensional.”
Katz continued: “We realize there’s so many different places we could go. So we’d be very open to exploring that and looking into that as we wrap that up.”
Bel-Air, which premiered on Peacock in 2022, is a reimagined version of the hit sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and is based on Morgan Cooper’s short fan film of the same name. The series follows Will Smith’s (Jabari Banks) complicated journey from the streets of West Philadelphia to the gated mansions of Bel-Air.
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In addition to Banks and Sholotan, Bel-Air has starred Cassandra Freeman, Jimmy Akingbola, Coco Jones, Akira Akbar, Simone Joy Jones, Jordan L. Jones and Adrian Holmes.
“There’s so many factors [that make Bel-Air special]. But I think the first thing is it’s based on this iconic series and there’s a lot of nostalgia and affection for the show,” Katz added on Monday. “Then when speaking about Morgan Cooper and his vision for it, he really reimagined it in a way that was unexpected and felt like there was a reason to revisit this story now. Then we’ve had the incredible storytelling from Carla and her staff and this cast. This cast is the most amazing cast. So I think all of those things together have really made it very special and something we are so excited to be a flagship series for the platform.”
Bel-Air is currently streaming on Peacock.
With reporting by Olivia Bria
